Abstract

Zhu Xi was familiar with Buddhism in youth. After devoting himself to Confucianism at age 30, he became critical of Buddhism. The author shows that Zhu Xi made two basic criticisms of Chinese Buddhism: He criticized, first, that many of the Chinese Buddhist sutras were forged texts, not based on Sanskrit originals, and that the basic Chinese Buddhist concepts were incoherent. However, Zhu Xi hadn’t fully mastered Buddhist history or thought.